NEW DELHI: In a first, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) will be collating data on cases of suicide attempts and abetment to suicide matters registered across the country. This will be part of the NCRB’s 2017 Crime in India (CII) report, which is likely to be released in next few months, according to top sources in the government.
At present, there is no national data on suicide attempts made in the country. Attempting suicide is no longer a crime in India as earlier this year the health ministry notified the Mental Healthcare Act 2017 that decriminalises it.
Though NCRB maintains statistics on abetment to suicide cases related to women and children, there is no centralized data on abetment to suicide matters related to men and transgenders.
Government sources told TNIE that elaborate data on not just these two categories but more than 20 Indian Penal Code offences will also be introduced in the 2017 NCRB report. For instance, under the category of “offences affecting the human body”, category of deaths due to negligence (304-A IPC) will be broadened, said a senior official on condition of anonymity.
Though the 2016 NCRB report provided the total number of death by negligence cases and the state-wise break up of such cases, there was not much data on deaths caused due to different kinds of negligence. A total of 1,40,215 such cases were recorded in 2016.
In the 2016 NCRB report, under the category of “causing death by negligence”, there were only two sub-categories—“deaths due to rash/negligent driving” and “deaths due to other negligence”. This time, detailed data will be provided under various categories that were earlier covered under “deaths due to other negligence”.
Similarly, the category of crimes under “rioting” is going to be further classified by NCRB. In 2016, a total of 61,974 cases of rioting were recorded.